Icon Aircraft teams with Cirrus on production of A5

Cirrus Aircraft will become “one of the key strategic supplier partners” for the Icon A5 amphibious Light Sport Aircraft, according to officials with the two companies, who have inked a deal for Cirrus, the manufacturer of the SR20 and SR22 lines of high-performance single-engine aircraft, to produce a significant portion of the composite airframe components for the A5.

All composite structures produced by Cirrus for Icon will be manufactured exclusively in the Cirrus Grand Forks, North Dakota, factory alongside the SR20 and SR22 component production lines. Using the composite assemblies supplied by Cirrus and other suppliers, Icon will control all design, system integration, final assembly, finishing and testing at its facility in Tehachapi, California, officials said. Composite component production will begin at the end of 2012, and the first production aircraft will be completed in the summer of 2013.

“The Icon A5 is certainly the most innovative LSA on the market, and we’re delighted to be able to play a meaningful role in bringing it to production,” said Dale Klapmeier, CEO of Cirrus Aircraft. “We believe that Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) and Sport Pilots are critically important to the growth and future of aviation. Cirrus and Icon share the common vision that exciting, innovative and safe new aircraft are a key to unlocking the enormous potential within our industry. Icon has hit the nail on the head with the A5, and we’re excited to combine Cirrus’ 15-plus years of world-class composite aircraft development and production experience with ICON’s truly exceptional consumer product design and engineering abilities.”